Final Fantasy 7 hinges on its core romance – a constant back and forth between Cloud Strife and potential love interests Tifa Lockheart and Aerith Gainsborough. Since the original game launched back in 1997, there has been a passionate discussion amongst the community not only about who is the best girl, but who’s the best match for Cloud in the context of the overall story.
It’s a complicated situation, one that has become mired in further mystery recently thanks to comments made by the development team.
Speaking to Inverse in December, co-director Naoki Hamaguchi described Aerith as a “sisterly type of character” to protagonist Cloud, casting doubts on whether she was ever meant to be considered a romantic option for the sulky little anime boy. A lot of fans took this literally, and these comments made a lot of sense when you consider that Rebirth leans further in Tifa’s favour as Cloud’s true partner.
They share a kiss during the Gold Saucer ferris wheel scene, while Aerith wraps her loving arm around Cloud’s and spends several minutes talking about the past, present, and future.
Adding to that, the return of Zack Fair muddies Aerith’s side of the love triangle in ways it never has been before. So who is the real love interest, and does it even matter?
Tifa Is The Perfect Romantic Partner For Cloud…
After finding themselves in a bit of a tizzy surrounding the sisterly Aerith comments, we have now seen Hamaguchi set the record straight, telling Automaton the following last week:
“As creators, we will continue to convey [the relationships between our characters] through our content,” Hamaguchi said. “For example, no one will make any official statements about who Cloud likes, who Aerith likes, and so on.”
It seems, until the final entry of the trilogy releases, at the very least, nobody will be drawing lines in the sand about who Cloud canonically falls in love with. Perhaps we will be the ones making the decision when the game finally comes along, or choices from past games end up culminating in a romance that matches the path we’ve walked for the better part of a decade.
If it’s similar to the original game, in which Aerith dies at the Forgotten Capital at the end of disc one, Cloud and Tifa will disembark from the airship and spend one final night together before facing Sephiroth at the Northern Crater. There’s no guarantee they’ll live to see the sun rise tomorrow, meaning this is the final time they might have to confess their feelings and capitalise on a love that has lingered since childhood.
What happens when the screen fades to black is left up to interpretation. Some believe they make love, while others think they drift off to sleep in one another’s arms dreaming about the lives they could have had if things were different. There are so many ways to envision it, which is what makes their romance so beautiful. The remake trilogy is bound to have its own take on the scene, and I expect it to be far less ambiguous than the 1997 classic.
It would capitalise on the Gold Saucer scene from Rebirth and every single piece of character development we’ve seen in-between. If Aerith truly is a ghost who lingers in Cloud’s periphery with no means of coming back to life, maybe she’ll push him to be happy with someone who loves him instead of mourning her loss and refusing to move on from it.
…But So Is Aerith
While Tifa is the childhood friend who has held onto her romantic feelings for Cloud for her entire life, Aerith is a charismatic girl next door who rocked into his life out of nowhere. They share an emotional connection that can only be severed by death itself, a bond where love is shared between former partners, best friends, and a destiny that will inevitably pull them apart.
Aerith is never afraid to tease Cloud when he gets flustered or berate him for poor decisions that put him and his friends in danger, but all of this comes from a place of love.
She can’t help but link him to her first boyfriend, Zack Fair, who shares more than a few visual and personal similarities to Cloud. When she sees Cloud, she is reminded of the first love that spawned with Zack, and the desperation to recreate that bond as a way to move on from grief. Is it merely an unhealthy coping mechanism or something real? Only players can decide.
Zack being alive but in another dimension or timeline also opens up a whole new can of worms for the third entry, and whether Aerith could also be brought back from the dead.
Aside from getting stabbed by Sephiroth, the most iconic scene between Cloud and Aerith is the conversation they have in a small children’s park as the duo swap stories like they’ve got all the time in the world. A few short minutes of vulnerability as two characters who will soon find themselves caught in the fate of the world have a moment to flirt, joke, and relax amidst a broken world they have no chance of fixing.
It mirrors the scene Cloud and Tifa share atop the Nibelheim water tower in a lot of ways, awash with promises to protect each other even as death comes knocking. So long as Cloud keeps that promise, he’ll have something worth coming home to. Both of these scenes mean a lot to the community, and can be looked at as proof of the romantic bond Cloud shares with the two women.
There Is No Right Answer To Cloud’s Romance
I find myself in a unique dilemma when it comes to answering the question this article poses. In my heart, I think Cloud belongs with Aerith, and find her to be the more appealing romantic partner when you break down appearance, personality, and the sort of life they’d end up living.
But deep down, I can’t deny the immense meaning Cloud and Tifa’s relationship has, and why, for all these years, is it the most canon romance Final Fantasy 7 has ever had. But this was on account of Aerith being long dead, and if that changes in any way whatsoever, so will the conversation around this love triangle. So there is no right answer, and that’s okay.
4.0/5
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Released
-
February 29, 2024
- ESRB
-
T for Teen